Solutions: Service Providers
Software Components
Funambol Carrier Edition includes the following major components and capabilities:
Portal
The Funambol Portal is a web-based application that lets end users view and edit PIM data that they have synchronized from other sources. Its capabilities include:
- 1-2-3 sign-up process for self-provisioning of portal user accounts
- “Quick add” capability to register the user’s phone
- Remote auto-configuration of SyncML settings on user’s phone
- “Quick add” to set up user Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, AOL or POP/IMAP email account
- One easy step to download-install-run Funambol email client software on devices
- Personal home page that shows last sync times with phone, Outlook and iPod, as well as contacts and calendar portlets to view, search and add contacts & events
- View, edit, add, remove contacts and calendar events stored on the portal
- User access to their profile to manage account information or changing phones
- Undelete capability to restore accidentally deleted contacts or events
- Secure data store only accessible by user who owns the data
- Secure data in transit through SSL encryption
- Web-based interface for customer service representatives (CSRs)
- Ability to support new devices and modify existing ones without service disruption
- Completely custom-brandable and localizable
- Support for Internet Explorer 6+ and Firefox 1.5+ web browsers
Sign up for a demo of the Funambol Portal at my.funambol.com.
Data Synchronization (DS) Server
The Funambol DS Server is the nucleus of Funambol Carrier Edition. It includes:
- Synchronization (Protocol) Engine which receives information from mobile devices in SyncML format (over HTTP), processes and saves the information in a data store, and sends data to the mobile device in SyncML format to get processed
- Implicit identification and authentication of user’s mobile phone
- Bi-directional synchronization or backup/restore of contacts, calendar, tasks and notes with SyncML 1.1 and 1.2 phones, Windows Mobile devices, Outlook or iPod
- Push email via TCP/IP or SMS on Windows Mobile devices with dynamic auto-detection and toggle of push method
- Push email via SMS on Java MIDP 2.0 phones from manufacturers such as Nokia, Motorola and Sony Ericsson
- Server Initiated Synchronization (SIS) with SIS-capable devices from manufacturers such as Nokia, Motorola and Sony Ericsson
- Inbound and outbound SyncML processors (Funambol Synclets) to pre- and post-process SyncML communications with devices. Funambol Synclets significantly improve the field mapping between specific phones and back-end applications or data stores. Synclets are device or device family specific and can be added, removed or modified at runtime without disrupting Carrier Edition services
- Authorization Officer to provide flexible user authentication that can easily integrate with an external authentication service (e.g. LDAP)
- Connectors to integrate with virtually any data store or 3rd party app (more below)
- Administration Tool to manage the Funambol system, including users, devices, connectors, logging and much more
- SSL encryption of data exchanged between devices/clients and server; DES and Triple DES encryption for data exchanged between Windows Mobile and Outlook clients and the Funambol DS Server
- As a J2EE app, it runs on Linux, Unix, Windows, Mac OS X & more J2EE systems
Tiered Administration
Funambol provides tools for administrators at multiple levels:
- Web-based interface for CSRs to support end users via the portal e.g.:
- manage users and their accounts, phones and email settings
- send over-the-air configuration messages or view configuration instructions for all mobile phones supported by the portal
- send the latest Funambol mobile software to a user's phone
- reset all data in user’s portal account
- disable portal accounts
- view live portal users and sync information for users
- Advanced administration tool for system administrators to manage and fine-tune the Funambol server, connectors, users and devices
- SOAP interface to Funambol administrative functionality to enable auto-provisioning as well as integration with operator existing admin frameworks
Connectors
The software that connects the Funambol DS Server to an external data source is called a connector. This allows mobile phones to sync data with any external source or application such as groupware, CRM and LDAP directories. Capabilities include:
- Common “Syncsource” interface to communicate with the Synchronization Engine in the Funambol DS Server
- Utilize APIs to connect to the external data source and authentication services (e.g. LDAP, JDBC, WebDAV)
- Maximum security through remote authentication, SSL encryption and flexibility to retain connector within or outside of the corporate firewall
- Carrier Edition includes POP/IMAP email connector as well as a foundation connector for storing all contacts, calendar and tasks in a RDBMS
- Dozens of additional commercial and open source connectors are available for Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes, Zimbra, SugarCRM, LDAP, RDBMS and more
PIM Sync Clients and Plug-ins
With recent phone models, the chances are that SyncML is built into the device so no additional software is required to synchronize with Funambol. Funambol plug-ins or clients are available from the Funambol portal or web site for synchronization with:
- Windows Mobile PocketPC or Smartphone devices: push email, contacts, calendar, tasks, notes, briefcase
- Microsoft Outlook: contacts, calendar, tasks, notes
- Apple iPod: contacts, calendar
There are also many open source plug-ins available for Funambol, e.g. for Blackberry and PalmOS devices as well as Mozilla Thunderbird and Evolution groupware clients.
Push Email Clients
Funambol is at the forefront of providing push email for everyone. The following email clients are available from Funambol:
- Windows Mobile plug-ins: Push email via SMS or TCP/IP on PocketPC and Smartphone devices; fully integrated with Pocket Outlook
- Funambol Java ME Email Client: Push email via SMS on MIDP 2.0 Java phones from manufacturers such as Nokia, Motorola and Sony Ericsson;
Fully SyncML 1.2 compliant; Auto-population and sync of email client address book from user contacts
In addition, Funambol works with emerging SyncML 1.2 push email mobile phones from manufacturers such as Nokia, Motorola and Sony Ericsson with no client software required on the phone.
Broad Mobile Device Support
Running applications on mobile phones goes beyond testing one phone on one carrier in one country. The phone type, firmware, carrier and country are all important factors for running an application on a device. With over one thousand phones, two hundred countries and hundreds of carriers around the globe, testing all of the combinations is impractical. The scale of the problem as well as logistical issues with performing tests on carrier networks in different counties is further exacerbated by the constant introduction of new mobile products and services.
As the most popular and established mobile open source vendor in the world, Funambol is in a unique position to support more devices than any other provider of push email. Funambol has been downloaded over a million times and is used by tens of thousands of individuals in over 200 countries. Funambol’s community runs our software on hundreds of devices, versions of firmware and carrier networks. Having the world's largest and most dispersed virtual testing team helps Funambol pinpoint firmware, carrier and country-specific issues that bewilder others for years.
Funambol Carrier Edition support for mobile devices includes:
- Hundreds of SyncML phones from manufacturers such as Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Siemens and Samsung for syncing contacts, calendar and tasks
- Hundreds of Windows Mobile PocketPC and Smartphone devices for push email and synchronization of contacts, calendar, tasks, notes, and briefcase
- Hundreds of Java MIDP 2.0 phones from manufacturers such as Nokia, Motorola and Sony Ericsson for push email and synchronization of contacts and calendar
- iPod and iPod nano for synchronization of contacts and calendar
